Make the Future Live Malaysia kicks off at SIC

Make the Future Live Malaysia hits Sepang International Circuit (SIC) from 29 April till 2 May 2019—a global programme that brings people and ideas together, to drive towards a lower-carbon energy future.

At the heart of Make the Future Live Malaysia is the Shell Eco-marathon Asia (SEMA), which celebrates its 10th year of challenging bright young student minds to design and build ultra-energy-efficient vehicles. The vehicles then compete on track—not to see whose car is the fastest—but rather the car that goes the farthest using the least amount of fuel.

This year’s event sees over 100 university and high school teams from 18 countries across Asia Pacific and Middle East coming together to demonstrate their ultra-energy-efficient masterpieces.

For the first time, students from Kathmandu University, Nepal will participate in SEMA, in the prototype gasoline category.

Also, for the first time ever, student teams will be participating in night races.

As a refresher, Shell Eco-marathon is divided into two main categories: UrbanConcept and Prototype. UrbanConcept vehicles resemble modern road going cars, while Prototype vehicles are three-wheeled, highly-aerodynamic mini formula cars.

There are two key competition in SEM, the first being the Mileage Challenge where the UrbanConcept and Prototype cars compete to travel the farthest, with the least amount of fuel.

The second competition at SEM is on the penultimate day—the exciting Drivers’ World Championship (DWC) Asia. DWC pits UrbanConcept vehicles in a unique head-to-head race on track. It’s a competition to see who can cross the finish line first, with the least amount of fuel.

All teams have been designing, building and testing their vehicles for the past months, and the crucial first hurdle is passing the stringent 180-point technical inspection. Once completing technical inspection, teams go out on the circuit to record official times.

The Sepang International Circuit is a challenging circuit—most notable will be navigating Turn 9, the second slowest turn of the circuit and which has a steep incline. The former F1 circuit will provide a real track experience to participating teams, and an exciting spectacle for attendees, supporters and fans.

Last year, the winning team from Singapore recorded an
astonishing 2,341kms—about the distance from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to Yangon, Myanmar—on just one litre of fuel.